Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-30
TON FOYE'S ESCAPE.
An American Who Was COnfim ed
im u Pal "a ma Prison.


Tom Foye, a conductor on the Panama
railroad. was most unjustly sentenced a
month since in Colon to eight years
Imprisonment for shooting a blood.
thirsty native passenger. He arrived in
this port last Tuesday on the steamer
Alene. having made a remarkable
escape, attended with great psril and
exposure. None of his fellow. passen-
gers, with whom he was on the best of
terms, suspt cted his identity until his
feet were safe on United States soil. To
a reporter of the World Mr.. Foye gave
yesterday full account of his expert.
ences IN Panama.
81 come from California" he said,
''and have been in the employ Of the
railroad company in Panama for two
years. You have no idea of the diff.
eulties we conductors have there.
Whenever the canal company pays off
the trains are packed full OF drunken
cut.throats and robbers from Chill and
Perm, and when you ask 'em for their
fares you want to look out you don't ge.
a gun or bowie.knife. They're great,
too, for carrying machette, which is a
knife about three feet long that's ussd
to cut your way through bushes. They're
mighty handy with it, and can cut their
path as fast as they can walk along.
My run was between Panama and Colon.
'In the middle of October last we had
a rough gang on board one day and l
had to put off two men that drew revol-
vers on NE. In one of the second-class
coaches there was party of about a
dozen who were travelling together. Oae
of them struck at me with his machette,
and l jumped back ont of his way.
Every time I'd ask him for his fare he'd
hit at me. and his companions were chat
tering away unpleasantly behind me-
The fellow finally made rush at me
with his machette upraised, and l drew
my revolver and shot him through the
head. 1t killed him instantly.
"There was good deal OF talk among
his frieuds the rest of the trip, but l ar.
rived at Colon untarmed and gave my
self up to the Perfecr. He sent mo TO
Jail. 1t was building without roof
and no glass in the windows or panels
in the doors. / got the fever and was
in bad state. The English-speakiug
people were very indignant about the
matter and the American Consul Gener.
al sent for the Yantic because he was
afraid we'd have an uprising. Finally
the Americans employed On the railroad
struck and refused to work till l was
placed in better quarters. 1t was Octo-
Der 18th shot the man and not till No
vember Goth did they give me what
they called trial before an Alcalde and
Jury OF five. Three of these were
Colombians and the remaining two were
men who are licensed to run gambling
houses and other disorderly places.
1.-THE courtroom was full Of natives
during the trial and they cried down my
lawyer when he'd try to speak, and
made disagreeable remarks about me.
The jury went out at will in the audience
and talk ed the case over. They convict.
ed me, and it was the only safe thing,
as far as they themselves were concerned,
that they could have done. The Judge
sentenced me to eight years imprison.
ment on November Both, and L served
two days. l was placed in Jail under
guard of fifty soldiers, ana there were
twenty policemen on the outside. l was
the only prisoner, but they were natur-
ally afraid that some one might try to
rescue me.
81 got extra rations from outside, and
a boy used to come in every evening to
clean my cell. The guard changed
watch every night at 6 clock. The second
day of my sentence managed to get a
suit of clothes which looked enough like
those worn by the boy, and at the
changing of the watch / changed my
clothes and shaved off my mustache.
which was pretty long. Tnen picked
up my slop pail and walked out as quiet
and easy as you please. As soon as l
got out Of sight / started on a dead run
for the Chagres river. | had Sl00 in
my pocket, and must have got start
OF an hour and half before 1 was dis.
covered. At the river stole boat and
started for the ocean. hoping to reach
the Yantic which had arrived about the
time l was sentenced. was in the
swamps in the vicinity of Colon for six
days till arrangements were made to get
me out of the country. You can imag
inc how secretly everything had to be
done when / tell you that Sl0,0 900 was
offered for my capture.
81 left the country on the steamer
Alene, of the Atlas line, Capt. Seiders,